


Slow Day

by CapricornQueen



Category: Mad Max Series (Movies)
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 16:33:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3985060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CapricornQueen/pseuds/CapricornQueen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Capable has had the slowest day at the North Citadel Hospital. Her saving grace from boredom comes in the form an injured mechanic named Nux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Day

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift to brentofthefabulouswild from Tumblr. Thanks for the prompt.

Capable sipped at her coffee and flicked the bag of creamer between her fingers. The black roast at the hospital edged into pure espresso territory daily, but no one was complaining. Long day shifts where focus and attention to detail saved lives in the most literal sense made drowsiness a work hazard. 

Capable’s break was officially an hour long, taken in whatever increments she could steal when the ever-present and powerful force of human stupidity didn’t cause an ER rush, but today was a special day.

Today Capable took her break in one long, blessed, hour of uninterrupted peace. She even had time to add cream(er) and sugar to her espresso and sip it. She couldn’t say she enjoyed her drink, but it was interesting to taste the coffee instead of throwing it back and feeling the burn of hot coffee running down her throat.

Valory said something about wishing she could inject pure caffeine into a vein for a quick mid-shift fix. Capable laughed along with everyone else but would never admit that the moment she got home she researched intra-venous caffeine injections.

The hospital was dead. 

Capable had worked at Northern Citadel Hospital for a decade and she had never, not even on her shadow shifts where she had no real responsibility or work, had so little to do. 

While she had been recounting supply closet she hoped that the early day lag was a result of the universe pulling back, like an elastic band being pulled to its limits, and then sometime in the afternoon the universe would let go and the world would snap back into action and ER would be a true place of emergency and not the break room it had become. 

Valory walked into the cafeteria and glanced at Capable before pouring her own cup of caffeine. 

“Capable, you’re missing the fun.” 

Capable jolted and sat up straight. “Fun? Was there a pile up on the Fury Road?” 

Valory chuckled and shook her head. “I wish. Just some garage accident.” Valory’s long black hair was let loose today and not strung into her usual high ponytail. Capable grimaced. If Val’s hair was down then there was no way that the garage accident was bad.

Capable tossed her half-full coffee into the garbage and was playing with her pager. 

“Oh yeah?” She paused and waited for the bloody details. Valory had a good heart but she took a lot of pleasure in other people’s pain. She was never so happy as when she can work on the bloodiest and most likely fatal case. Those people had the highest mortality, but when she saved even one she was content. They called her the Valkyrie, the battle angel that guided the dead to Valhalla. 

Val took a long sip and shook her hair over one shoulder. 

“Caucasian male, 26, lacerations to his abdominal and right arm. Boring.” Val said.

“Have you assigned him to a nurse yet?” 

Val shook her head. “Nah, he’s en route. It’s an hour of sutures at best. Don’t waste your time. Let one of the baby nurses take it.” 

Capable was up and halfway out of the caf by the time Val was done talking. “Give him to me,” she said.

Val grimaced into her coffee. “No way. Something better will turn up.” 

Capable paused in the doorframe. “Come on, Val. Give him to me. It’s so slow I’m going to lose my mind.”

Val shrugged. “Alright. He’s yours. But when the freak helicopter accident happens that I’ve been praying for comes in, don’t come crying to me because your knuckle deep in some motorhead’s guts.” 

“Thanks,” 

Capable was gone.

 

—-

 

Capable looked over the boy and had a hard time believing that he was only a few years younger than her. Maybe it was the grade-A morphine coursing through his veins but his eyes were wide with child-like wonder as he played with the tubes going into his arm.

The EMT gave Capable a quick briefing in hushed tones.

“One of the chains on their hydraulic lift snapped. He got the nasty end of that whip. It’s not too deep. Basic sutures and the such. I’d give him some painkillers before you start stitching”

“Ok thank you- wait, what?” Capable gave the boy a once over. “He’s not on any pain meds?”

The EMT shrugged and hefted his emergency response bag a little higher on his shoulder. “He’s got an incredible pain tolerance. And he’s chatty too. He’ll talk your ear right off it you let him.” 

“Alright, thanks. I’ll let you get back out there.”

The EMT laughed. “Out where? This was the busiest part of my day.” 

 

Capable assessed the boy and a couple possible treatments flashed through her head. 

The gouge was a deep one that spread from the center of his chest and stretched over to his arm. It didn’t go deep enough to sever muscles, and the kid was conscious and fully lucid which was a good sign. Capable’s eyes moved from his torso to the boy’s head and flinched back when her eyes met his deep blue ones. 

“Hullo,” he said and smiled. 

“Hello.” Capable had to pause for a minute before she remembered what she was supposed to say. “I’m your nurse. You can call me Capable. What’s your name?”

“Nux.” Nux looked away and fingered the edge of his open cut. 

“Don’t do that.” Capable didn’t process the words before she said them. Nux’s fingers shot away as though Capable had slapped his hands.

“Sorry,” 

He blushed and settled his roving hands into his lap. 

“It’s fine, I just don’t normally have to tell people not to touch their injuries. It should hurt.” Capable checked the IV’s and shuffled the needles around under the guise of fixing their position. Her frown subsided when his arms were empty of track marks and needle scars that would have hinted at drug use.

“It does hurt.” Nux shifted a bit in the cot and now that Capable was closer she could see the twitch of his mouth. A grimace every time he jostled his wounds. “But complaining makes it worse. Focuses everything on that one spot, you know?” 

Capable nodded. Distraction methods were the first thing you learn as a nurse. Distract the patient, heal the injury. 

“On a scale of 1 to 10, what would you say the pain is like?”

Nux furrowed his brow and was silent for a minute. “I don’t know, really. A four?”

Capable’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. “A four?”

“A four.” Nux nodded. “It hurts, but not too, too bad.” 

“Do you get hurt a lot?” Capable asked. His kind of pain tolerance didn’t come without practice. She saw his jaw clench and a muscle in his neck jump before relaxing.

He smiled wide. “I’m clumsy I think. And I work with a lot of tools and thirsty engines. Hot engines.” He chuckled and ran his hand over his face. His thumb lingered on a deep, old scar just above his temple. “This ain’t too bad.”

“Alright, Nux, your last name?” 

“Um, Immortan? Nux Immortan.”

“Alright, Mr. Immortan I-” 

Nux flinched away from her. “Just Nux.” 

Capable’s smiled dipped. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“Is fine.” Nux mumbled.

“Alright, Nux, I’m going to start you on a morphine drip. Once that’s kicked in I’m going to stitch you up and then send you home. Any questions.”

Nux shook his head hard and Capable noticed that his fingers were grazing the edge of his cut again. 

“Stop touching that.”

“Sorry!” Nux drew back his hands but Capable knew that they wouldn’t be in his lap for long.

Capable set up the morphine and found that every time she looked up to check on the boy, he was watching her. It wasn’t the leering appreciation she got from entitled men. It wasn’t even the sly look young men gave her when they thought they had a chance.

Nux looked at her with quiet interest, and whenever her eyes met his, he’d look away with the faintest blush on his cheeks. 

He wasn’t an ugly boy. He was pale, and well muscled as labour tended to be. His hair was shaved close to the scalp but it was his eyes that caught her attention. It was a blue that you could drown in if you weren’t careful. 

“Shiny.” 

Nux spoke and broke Capable out of her thoughts. She glanced up to find him staring at her hair. Capable checked the morphine and decided that it was definitely taking effect. 

Nux clapped his hand over his mouth and stared at her wide-eyed. “I said that out loud?” 

Capable couldn’t force down her laugh. “Yes, you did.”

“I didn’t mean to.”

“You’re on a pretty powerful painkiller. Don’t worry sweetheart.”

Nux let his hands fall back into his lap. He looked at her. “Look. I’m not touching it. Not touching the hurt.” 

Capable smiled and soaked sterilized gauze with a disinfectant. “I did see that. Well done.” 

Nux bit his lip but the beginnings of a smile were tugging at his mouth. “Thanks.” 

“So, Nux,” Capable wiped down his chest. The disinfectant dyed his skin orange. “Tell me a bit about yourself.”

“I don’t want to.” Nux gave the morphine cord a gentle tug. “I’m going to sound stupid.” 

“No! Not at all.” Capable drew his hand away from the cord. “I’m curious about you and I’ve been a nurse too long to judge someone on morphine.”

“I’m not much. Just a mechanic.”

“Where do you work?”

“Joe’s Car Shop.” Nux sat up straight and reached for the bedside table. “Thirsty.” 

Capable fetched the glass for him and watched as he downed the whole thing in one gulp. 

“The one off Highway 78? In the Greenplace community?”

Nux paused for a long moment. “Yes. Right next to the Gastown Bar.”

“Huh. I live around that area.”

“You do?” Nux rubbed his hands together. “I work there.”

“At Joe’s Car Shop?” Capable asked. She didn’t know why she loved to torture morphine addled patients, but god she loved to torture them.

Nux stared at her. “How did you know?” 

Capable laughed and began the sutures. Nux watched the metal weave in and out of his skin without complaint. “Is this going to ruin my tattoos, you think?”

Capable looked to where he was gesturing and for the first time realized just how much ink this kid had. His chest was covered with hard black lines. It took her a minute to realize what she was staring at.

Nux had a very intricate car engine carved into the skin of his chest. Her mouth dropped open.

“Wow.” 

Nux tapped her on the shoulder. “Ms. Capable? Do you think this scar is going to ruin it?” 

The chain had bit into the bottom of the tattoo, painting the underside of the engine red. 

Capable shook her head. “Maybe a bit.” 

Nux looked so dejected she was afraid that he was going to cry. 

“But!” Capable was grasping at straws but she did not want to see this man cry. Somewhere between their introductions and now Nux had wriggled into her heart and now there was a little soft spot for him. “You could get that tattoo scarred onto your skin.”

“Scarification…?” 

Capable nodded and continued. “It would look amazing.” 

“I think I have too many scars.” Nux confessed. His hand was back on his temple and rubbing the old scar there.

“I don’t think so.” Capable replied. “I think you pull them off well. They add character.” 

Nux didn’t say anything but he rubbed his temple.

“And I’m a nurse.” Capable continued. “I’ve seen more scars than you ever will. Trust me when I tell you that they don’t make you any less handsome.”

“You think I’m handsome?!” 

Nux shoved his hands to his face again and in a quiet whisper. “I said that out loud too.”

“Yes you did,” Capable said.

Nux looked her over and chewed on his bottom lip. “If you have car problems. I can fix it.” 

Capable smiled. “I don’t have a car.” 

Nux blinked, almost like he were amazed that someone didn’t own a vehicle in this day and age. 

“But I like coffee.” Capable offered. 

“I can buy coffee!” Nux winced. “Sorry, too loud.” 

Capable laughed and finished up with the sutures. Nux waited a heartbeat before continuing.

“Can I buy you coffee?” 

Capable looked at him and couldn’t explain why he made her feel warm, but she was starting to like the feeling. She’d never had a boy make her feel warm.

Her sisters made her happy, Val and her friend Furiosa made her happy. She never thought that a man would be able to do so as well.

“Yeah, I’d like that.”


End file.
